Patient File : Milla S
by TemperanceNova
Summary: It runs in the family, no matter how hard you try to repress it, something will always slip through.
1. Assistant Professor

"Do you think we'll be in trouble for showing up this late?"

The young girl poked her head around the corner searching as she waited for her companion to catch up to her. She was the only girl she knew that had to look down on all the other kids her age. Barely sixteen and she towered over her partner, Kaine.

"Who knows? Probably. You know how he hates it when you're late. What was it he said? If you can't show up on time why bother showing up in the first place?" he sighed in response, slouching his shoulders.

"Oh he's just joking about that!"

"Was he? Because he didn't exactly sound like he was. Actually he never sounds like he's joking. He's your boss now, isn't he?"

"Well if you want to get technical, yeah I guess he is my boss. But does it really matter when it all comes down to it? We're here to help that's all there is to it."

"Sorting papers and running errands. You're a glorified secretary!"

"Assistant Professor! Was the actual term Lord Death used."

"Right and you can't even make it to the class..."

"It's not my fault all these corridors look the same!"

"Milla, can't you just use your soul perception to find out where he is?"

As if a light bulb suddenly went off over her head she smacked her fist into her hand, smiling brightly.

"Kaine, you're absolutely right! Why didn't I think if it before!"

Before he could react however, she gripped him by the wrist pulling him halfway down the stairs before she hopped the banister down to the next flight.

"Milla! What the hell!" he shrieked barely able to land on his feet like her before she was dragging him down the hall.

"Don't be such a baby! It's this way!"

Of course they were late, so late in fact that the only person left in the class was the Professor, seated at his desk shuffling through papers. She skidded to a halt in the open doorway, Kaine slamming into her back roughly almost causing her to stagger forward. The noise they made caused the Professor to look up from his work, his glasses gleaming.

"I think I distinctly remember telling you if you couldn't show up on time there was no point in showing up at all. Class was dismissed over twenty minutes ago," he sighed, his voice as calm as a pond. Somehow it made things worse when he spoke so calmly.

"I'm sorry, Professor, but we got lost! All of the hallways looked the same," she pleaded dropping her head in shame.

She could hear him scoot back from his desk, the wheels on his chair squeaking lightly. For a moment she thought he was going to tell he to leave but when she chanced a glance he waved his hand for her to come into the room. Each step she took closer to his desk she could feel Kaine trying to tug her back in the opposite direction even though he was walking with her. She stopped at the edge of his desk, her eyes glued on the papers scattered everywhere.

"Try again tomorrow, hm? First thing in the morning, if you're late again we'll have to reconsider this arrangement," he stated, still calm.

"Thank you, Professor! I won't be late again, I swear!" she demanded. She saw him nod out of the corner or he eye before he shoved off from the desk, propelling himself in the chair out of the classroom. Kaine finally released her shirt peeking out from behind her at the doorway the professor had just vanished through.

"Man he gives me the creeps!" he shivered, rubbing his hands over his arms roughly.

"Don't say that about him. Professor Stein is a brilliant man, this is the opportunity of a lifetime. We would be stupid to pass it up."

"Says you. You have immunity, it's me he wants to cut open!"

"It's not like he'd kill you... Quit being such a baby Kaine."

* * *

Everyone was talking about her before the class was even full. She could hear the whispers halfway down the hall, figuratively speaking, but it wasn't as if it really mattered. Maybe it was the outfit, she wasn't really sure, but there were a lot of boys crowded around her.

"Are you a new student?"

"What's your name?"

"You shouldn't sit on the Professors desk like that…"

The last voice that shouted out over the crowd was a female. She craned her neck to see the girl, her ashen blond pigtails and green eyes glaring down from her seat in the class at her. It was obvious why she looked so displeased. She was child like in the extreme, her chest was practically concave! Milla sat forward, smiling up at the bossy student pleasantly. She knew that she was probably intimidating the girl with her womanly figure, but she had no intention of hiding what she had been graced with. She was tall, just like her father, easily nearing five nine. Her long silver hair pulled up into a neat ponytail on the back of her head tied with a black ribbon. Bright green eyes. Every article of clothing she owned was altered, usually torn to show off more skin in one way or another. Today she had wore her black skirt, ripped halfway up her thighs on both sides and pinned back together with straight pins. She wore a plain pale gray tank top, shredding the abdomen area with a pair of scissors she had found in the desk drawer when she first arrived in the class. Thankfully she had a well developed chest that made any top she wore look sexier than it would have on flat-chest girl. Long black laced leather boots that made her taller than she was originally, as if she really needed the extra height and black fingerless gloves that extended up to her elbows tied with a little black ribbon to keep them up.

"I somehow don't think that the Professor will mind very much that I'm sitting on the desk…" she smirked, waving her hand at the stern looking girl.

"Just because you're new and you dress like that doesn't mean you have the right to sit on the professors desk!"

"Calm down Maka, it's not like he'll tolerate her sitting there anyway. Class hasn't even started, leave it be," the white haired boy next to her sighed, obviously he wasn't pleased with her shouting so early in the morning.

"Maka… I've heard that name before somewhere haven't I?" she mumbled, tapping her long fingernails on the desk in a steady rhythm.

If at all possible more boys started to crowd around as they filed into the room for class. More of them wanted to know her name, whether she was a Meister or a Weapon, mostly her name. But she was stuck on the blond girl who was still glaring down at her as if she had just stolen her teachers pet medal or something. Maka…Maka what? The abrupt sound of rolling wheels screeching over the slick tile in the hallway sent the boys before her into a frenzy to make it into their seats before the Professor arrived, leaving her alone on the edge of the desk staring at the door blankly. All of a sudden the door slammed open, the man who flew into the room riding a computer chair as if it were some kind of vehicle snagging the wheels on the sill of the door, spinning across the floor on his back until he finally skidded to a stop in the middle of the floor glancing up at the class upside down.

"Good morning class. What was on today's agenda? Ah yes, we have another-"

"Professor Stein, excuse me," Maka called out raising her hand out of turn. Boy was she trying hard.

"Yes Maka, what is it?" the Professor muttered collecting himself from the floor before he retrieved his overturned stitched up chair and flopped back down onto it.

"We apparently have a new addition to the class?" she asked, nodding at the girl on the desk with narrow eyes.

For what seemed like the first time, the Professor turned to regard the girl on the desk, his glasses reflecting the overhead lights so that all she could see was a blue sheen. He tilted his head once, the glare vanishing from one lens to reveal his confused jade eyes.

"Oh, you're here already. I suppose I should have expected as much. Students, this is my new assistant, Milla…" he muttered before turning the large bolt that stuck out from the left side of his silver hair. There were several ticks before a loud click seemed to echo through the silent room.

"Assistant? She's our _Professor_ too?" Maka balked, shock covering her features.

"_Assistant_ Professor! It's a pleasure to meet you all!" the girl cheered tossing her fists in the air.

"Unbelievable…" Maka groaned dropping back down into her seat, unable to accept the news.

"And by assistant, she means she's here to file paperwork. Which you're sitting on by the way, is that really necessary?" he huffed.

"Well it's not as if you have a plethora of seating in here for anyone other than the students, and I'll be damned if I sit there like a student."

He shook his head lightly, sliding back behind his desk as he pulled out his notes, handing off a stack of useless notes for her to apparently sort.

"Anyway, as I stated before, we have another dissection scheduled for today. But someone seems to have misplaced my specimen…" he muttered, glancing over at Milla who looked away innocently. "Milla, where did it go?"

"Where did what go? I'm sorting papers…"

Sighing heavily he dropped his roster onto the desk ushering her toward the door, before he turned back to the class.

"Everyone please study your notes, I need to have a word with my Assistant in the hall…"

Stein caught Milla by her elbow, half dragging her out into the hallway with a calm look on his face. What was it always worse when he was calm?

"You can't just go around setting animals free, Milla. When it wakes up from the anesthesia, it's going to be very angry, it could maul someone…"

"Well it didn't seem right! The poor thing laying in a metal cage, it looked half dead!"

The classroom door behind them snapped open, several students from the class spilling out into the hallway in a pile as if they were trying to eavesdrop through the door. Maka and her white haired companion. Two girls who looked related, one tall with stern features, the other short and childlike. And another boy with black hair, three odd white stripes on the left side only.

"Damn it Patty! You're not suppose to turn the handle!" the white streaked boy hissed clawing his way out from the bottom of the pile.

"Oops, sorry!" the childlike girl laughed as he fought to free himself.

"I should have known better. Milla, I'll leave you out here to get acquainted. I have to go find my badger…" Stein sighed starting off down the hallway.

"What ever you do, don't look in the men's faculty bathroom!" she called after him watching as the pile of students began to untangle themselves.

One after the other they all lined up in the hall staring at her as if she were some kind of giant, then she remembered with her height and her boots, she must have actually looked like a giant to them.

"So, what are all of your names?" she mumbled pointing at each of them.

"Soul," the white haired boy mumbled.

"I'm Liz, this is my sister Patty. And our Meister," the tallest sister said with a smile indicating to the boy with the streaks.

"Death the Kid," he said, pointing at her. "And where do you get off wearing something so hideous!"

"Hideous? What do you mean?" she gasped looking down at herself as if she didn't understand what he could have possibly seen that he didn't like.

"You see, he's a little crazy. Anything that's not symmetrical is disgusting to him," Liz sighed covering her face with her hand.

"Precisely! Which is why you need to correct that hideous outfit!" Kid shouted, jabbing his finger at her again.

"Anything that's not even? Then, what's the deal with you head?" she asked pointing back at him, indicating the three stripes that didn't repeat on the opposite side.

It was almost as if someone had stuck him over the head, he fell to the floor instantly, pounding his fist on the tile repeatedly, wailing.

"I'm filth! Trash! Why can't I just die?" he shouted, she expected to see an actual puddle of tears to form under his head.

"Wow, way to just throw that right out there. Patty, do your thing," Liz sighed.

"Sure thing big sis!"

It was disturbing to say the least, watching the younger sister try and cheer the obviously neurotic boy up, which wasn't really as difficult as it seemed. A few short compliments and he was back on his feet again. She opened her mouth, preparing to ask what exactly she had just witnessed only to be cut off by a shriek, followed by a red headed man skidding to a halt next to the group.

"Good morning, Maka," he wheezed waving at her.

"Ew, go away you creep!" Maka shouted and it finally clicked.

"That's it! Spirit Albarn! You're Maka Albarn!" Milla shouted.

An angry growling sound ripped through the hallway and Spirit suddenly jerked forward as if he were running away from something.

"Maka, your papa loves you!" he yelled taking off down the hallway, followed shortly after by a very angry sounding badger.

The entire group watched as Spirit bolted down the hall, sliding every now and again on the slick floor, allowing the badger to keep up. He was shouting and screaming Stein's names, pleading for someone to save him.

"Hey Maka, was that a badger chasing your creepy dad?" Soul asked tilting his head.

"Who cares. Maybe it will eat him…" she snapped.

"You shouldn't say that about your papa. If he was gone, you'd miss him. Everyone just go back into the classroom and I'll go deal with the badger," Milla sighed pulling the door open.

"You can't tell us what to do! You're not our Professor!" Maka protested crossing her arms.

"Technically, she's the Assistant Professor, you do what she says in my absence," Stein muttered trotting past them leisurely as if there was nothing wrong with the wild animal chasing Spirit. "I'll deal with the badger."


	2. We're just alike, aren't we?

"Say, how do you know Maka's old man?" Soul asked snatching a sandwich away from the pile Maka had set out for the group to share.

"Spirit? He's friends with my papa…" Milla smiled.

"What I'm more interested in is how you managed to get this job in the first place. I mean, Assistant Professor! I've never heard of such a thing!" Maka growled refusing to even offer a sandwich to Milla at all.

"I got this job because of my papa, too."

Thankfully Liz pulled an extra sandwich off of the plate and passed it over to Milla with a smile.

"And who did you say your dad was?" she asked.

"Oh my papa, well I thought it would be obvious, but it's Professor Stein."

The entire group starred over at her blankly, all of them paused in the middle of eating, their eyes narrowed in confusion. It had been obvious, hadn't it? They had the same hair, the same eyes. She was even tall like he was. Surely they could see the resemblance.

"Ha, nice one! Maybe having a younger Professor like her will be a good thing after all! At least she knows how to tell a joke," Soul laughed, slapping his hand on his leg roughly.

"Ha, ha…yeah that's really funny!" Patty joined in and soon enough everyone was chuckling at her.

"Just wait here, I'll be right back," she insisted gulping down her sandwich as she rushed back into the school.

Now that she remembered to use her soul perception when she took a wrong turn it was easy enough for her to find the classroom where Stein sat, grading a paper at his desk.

"Hey, I need you to come with me for a second," she mumbled grabbing the backrest of his chair.

Without waiting for an answer she pulled him away from the desk, dragging him out of the classroom still grading the paper in his hands. He didn't even try to get away from her or stop her.

"Where are we going?" he asked, writing something on the paper slowly.

"Just around. Did you take care of that badger?" she asked quietly, passing a weird blue man in the hallway.

"Evening Sid," Stein called out as they wheeled past, the blue man only glancing back at them in confusion. "No, I didn't. Spirit's missing too, I'm afraid your antics may have cost the poor man his life."

"I somehow doubt a badger killed a Death-Scythe. Here we are."

Skidding his chair to halt she spun him around to where he was overlooking the students all gathered around the trees on the school grounds, still in the middle of their lunches. All of them peering up at him as if they were expecting something to happen.

"Oh, hello there. Was there a reason I was drug away from grading tests to your little lunch get together?" Stein asked pulling a cigarette from inside his coat pocket.

"Stand up, please?" Milla asked.

"What for?"

"Just do it!"

With a swift kick to the already bent bar that supported the chair she knocked it out from under him, sending him crashing to the ground. He took a moment to light his cigarette still laying on the ground before he slowly climbed to his feet, dusting off his lab coat.

"See?" Milla asked gesturing between herself and Stein.

Their eyes danced between the two, first to her, then to Stein, then back to her. Back to Stein. With each pass their expressions went from confusion, to contemplation, to utter shock.

"Holy hell! You weren't kidding! Stein is really your dad?" Soul shouted pointing at the two.

Even Maka seemed to understand the similarities between them, Kid, Patty and Liz all marveling at them as if they were some kind of world wonder.

"Great, now that we have that out of the way, can I go back to grading my papers now?" Stein sighed, blowing smoke into the air above their heads.

"STEIN!"

"Oh look, Spirit is still alive…"

Everyone watched as the redhead scrambled past them, clawing his way up a nearby tree faster than she thought any human should be able, the badger still nipping at his heels. Apparently Spirit had been the first thing it had encountered when it awoke from the anesthesia and it warranted he be the one the beast had to chase down.

"Stein, help! This belongs to you, doesn't it? You have to stop bringing wild animals into the school!" Spirit wailed.

To her surprise no one was paying any attention to the Death-Scythe in peril except for her and her father. The other students were all crowded around in a circle conversing about none other than how she came to be conceived. Their voices all hushed whispers.

"How do you think it happened? What woman would trust him enough to let him-" Soul mumbled.

"Soul! Don't say it!" Maka gasped, flushing red.

"Maybe he drugged her?" Liz offered.

"That certainly would make more sense. But then again, her age isn't aligning to when he should have conceived her…" Kid added, cupping his chin thoughtfully.

"Why haven't we ever seen her before?" Maka asked, her cheeks still red.

Milla poked her head into the middle of the group, interrupting their debate to try and help them understand how she came to be.

"You know, if you want to know, you could just ask. I was born in a lab," she muttered, nodding her head.

"Yes, she was a failed attempt at gene mapping," Stein sighed puffing on his cigarette as all the students gaped up at him in shock.

"How can you just say that?" Maka hissed.

"Well, it's the truth. I wouldn't expect any of you to understand right now. It's really not that important anyway. You should all be worried about poor Spirit. I think that badger really wants to eat him…"

Finally they all glanced over at the badger still furiously growling, trying to scale the tree to reach Spirit who had to climb higher just to avoid it's claws. Milla was the first one to take a step closer, fully prepared to try and chase the animal away until Stein reached out stopping her by the shoulder.

"Don't go over there or it'll turn on you next," he said digging in his pocket before he produced a small hollow tipped dart. "Just stay still Spirit, the more you struggle the more likely I'll be to hit you instead of the badger."

"What! Don't throw that! Stein, if you hit me it will kill me!"

"Don't be so dramatic, it's not going to kill you…"

By the time Stein had the animal tranquilized, Milla was helping Spirit down out of the tree without landing on his butt. It wasn't until he was on his feet, glaring down at the sleeping beast that Stein offered a solution to the problem Spirit hadn't thought to employ.

"You do realize that if you had just turned into a Scythe when you first came into contact with it, it wouldn't have been able to hurt you, right?" Stein asked lifting the badger up off of the ground where it fell from the tree.

Spirit's jaw dropped, tears streaming down his face as he realized that he was right! The entire situation could have been avoided if he had just used his brain. Milla chuckled at the redhead, her smile fading only when she realized that Stein was turning back to the school, his specimen in hand.

"Papa…" she gasped, causing him to stop mid step to peer at her, she wasn't suppose to call him that on school grounds. "Papa, please don't. Let me go set it free. Please."

She could see how the students were all gawking at them, the hesitation in Stein's step a little more than obvious. She had to remember not to cry, if she did that it would only make things worse, but it was hard. The sight of the limp animal in his arms, knowing what fate it would receive, it made a funny pain in her chest that seemed connected directly to her tear ducts. She was certain that he would turn away from her and take the animal back to its cage, her eyes falling to the ground to avoid having to see that look in his eyes. He was no doubt ashamed of her.

"Fine, have it your way. Just be sure it's far enough away from the main city and near a water source…" he sighed dropping the limp animal into her arms.

"Thank you," she mumbled, still refusing to cry.

"Class is starting soon, as soon as you're finished I expect to see you back. There are tests to be graded."

* * *

"So, how did your second first day go?"

Milla's eyes snapped up from the papers she was sorting, student tests into passing and failing category's along with a slew of other outdated papers Stein had apparently failed to put away properly, to Kaine who stood in the open doorway of the classroom. Now she understood why Lord Death insisted that he needed an Assistant. He couldn't keep anything organized to save his life, but somehow he knew right where everything was. That was how it had always been…

"I am a total failure. I broke _the_ rule," she wheezed leaning back in his stitched chair. It was a miracle he left it behind for her to use while she worked.

"Oh damn, _the_ rule huh? That's pretty bad. Wait, what's _the_ rule again?"

He shuffled over to the desk, leaning forward on the papers to stare at her with his powder blue eyes. She had always admired Kaine's strange looks, how his eyes didn't match his crimson hair in the slightest, or the black streak of his bangs that always managed to cover half of his face which he swore he didn't dye. After being his partner for years she realized that was just how he looked, there were no tricks to it. If only he weren't so much shorter than she was she could have mistaken him for being handsome.

"The, don't call me papa in front of other people rule," she sighed pulling papers out from under his arms.

"Oh _that_ rule. Yeah, how did that go?"

"He just gave me what I asked for. But I could tell he was disappointed with me. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea."

"What? Weren't you the one that said we needed to do this? No matter what we did back in the other school, we'll never be able to learn what we can from your old man, right?"

"Don't call him that. It's Professor Stein here."

"Are you two talking about me?"

Kaine suddenly went rigid, jerking up from the desk gawking at the doorway where Stein was standing, his glasses clutched in his hand as he closed the distance between them quietly.

"Professor," Milla said lightly, standing up from his chair in case he wanted it back.

"It's time to go, all of the other students are already gone. You can pick up where you left off tomorrow. And you, what are you doing here? You're not a student, or an Assistant…" Stein sighed sitting his glasses down on the desk, glaring down at Kaine.

This was usually how it went whenever they were in the same room alone with her. It was hard for her to tell if it was just her fathers urge to dissect the boy, or if he generally just didn't like him. Either way it usually ended with her having to put herself between them to keep Stein from tormenting her partner.

"He just came to pick me up, or would you rather I walk home alone?" she asked pulling Kaine with her toward the door.

"You could have just stayed at the lab, that way you could walk home with me everyday. But you insisted it wasn't necessary. If you're within the city limits you shouldn't need an escort," he stated sinking onto his chair.

"And if we had taken you up on that offer, how many days would I have to pull you and Kaine apart? The two of you living in the same quarters wouldn't work and you know it."

"Anesthetics work wonders for such situations."

"Haven't you had enough anesthesia for today, Professor? I'll see you in the morning…"

"Why does he hate me so much! Or is it just that he wants to rip my insides out and arrange them on a metal table, because honestly, I get that go jump off of a bridge vibe from him _every_ time he looks at me," Kaine snapped flopping down on the couch in their small apartment living room.

"Does it look like I'm him? How am I suppose to know?" she asked sitting a cup of tea in front of him. Coffee for herself, tea never seemed to do the trick.

"Actually, you do look _just_ like him…"

"That's not what I meant, Kaine."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. You're nothing like him, he's all crazy and shit. I mean he really let a badger chase a man around the campus today? Badgers could cause real harm if they're pissed enough-Milla? What?"

The word had come out of his mouth again. The only word that stuck a nerve every single time. She sat glaring over at him calmly and he realized he'd said something wrong, he just couldn't put his finger on it at the moment.

"Damn, I said the word didn't I? You know I don't mean it…" he whispered.

"Yes you do. You mean it every time you say it. And so does everyone else."

"Milla, come on he-he's not normal."

"You don't think I don't know that? That _he_ doesn't know that? Just-you don't have to say it out loud, ok? I'm going to go out."

"Out? Out where? Do you want me to go with you?"

"No, just stay here. I'll be back to make dinner."

"Come on Milla, don't be like that!"

"Stay here."

Snatching up a bag of souvenirs she had prepared before leaving that morning for school, she shuffled out the apartment door and down the hallway quietly. She couldn't exactly be angry with Kaine. She understood better than anyone else he had a right to fear her father. A lot of people did. But that never seemed to stop the word from hurting her feelings. Her father was insane, there was no way around that. But she was so proud of him for the control he maintained, the effort he went through just to make it through the day as normally as possible. When he first learned she was coming back to Death City to study under him, he had offered her and her partner a place to stay in his laboratory on the outskirts of the city, but as she stood there staring up at the strange gray building she had once called home, she knew Kaine would have never survived there. The stitches that covered everything she could see, all of the walls, the arrows that at some times seemed just as random as the stitches. Kaine would have lived in a constant state of anxiety if they had stayed there. Without even bothering to knock she pulled the heavy metal door open with a bit of trouble, had he oiled the hinges since she'd left?

He sat in the main room of the lab as always, his back to the door, fingers floating over the keyboard in front of him as he worked on some experiment, one hand slowly reaching up to turn the bolt in his head before he went right back to work. As usual he didn't even turn to acknowledge her, this was commonplace. She was use to the lack of contact between them.

"I brought you some things from the other school. I thought you might be interested in a couple of the medical books I found. Also, I brought you some coffee, they opened a really nice café and they had the best espresso…" she sighed clicking on the light, it flickered a few times before it finally came to life illuminating the sterile looking room. "Are you eating well living here all by yourself?"

No answer. He did react slightly to the change in lighting, covering his eyes for a moment before he went right back to typing. She could see his reflection on the computer screen the closer she inched toward him, the words he was typing completely unimportant to her. She had learned at a very young age that his computer was off limits to her. Her especially. It didn't even occur to her anymore to try and read over his shoulder.

"I wanted to apologize for today, but really, you should stop bringing wild animals into the class to dissect. It's not really beneficial to the Meister's _or_ the Weapons. I know that you know that, so why do you still insist on doing it?"

This time there was a hesitation in his typing, it was small but she noticed it none the less. And when he refused to answer her this time she reached her limit with him. Now he was well aware she was there and still ignoring her. Digging into the bag she pulled out the can of espresso she had brought for him and launched it across the room. It collided with the back of his head with a loud crack causing him to almost topple forward onto his keyboard before he turned to look at her in shock.

"Throwing metal cans at a person's head isn't a nice thing to do. What if you caused some kind of brain damage?" he mumbled finally speaking to her.

"As opposed to the damage it's already sustained with that through your skull? Why can't you just respond when I'm speaking to you?"

"I didn't think you expected me to. And thank you."

He scooped up the can of coffee from the floor reading over the label once before he sat it on his desk. Thankfully he didn't go back to whatever he was working on as she approached him, sitting out the books she had brought. He went over each label once, nodding at each before he stacked them next to the computer monitor.

"And to answer your questions, yes I am, and it's beneficial for everyone to understand the inner workings of living creatures. Knowing where certain vital organs are located could help in a battle with an enemy," he added leaning back in his chair.

"Animal and human anatomy are different."

"They wont let me cut open a human…"

She frowned down at him knowing very well if he could have a human specimen to cut open he would be overwhelmingly happy, it made her heart hurt. This man, who she admired so much, was so disconnected from human emotions it was unbelievable. She couldn't even recall a time when he ever said that he loved-

"Where is your partner?" he asked breaking her thoughts off as if he somehow knew the depressing path they were taking.

"He opted out for organ donating this year. And every other year until he dies. And even then he's left specific instructions that his organs are to go to a hospital… Sorry."

"What did he say this time that's made you angry enough to come here alone?"

Narrowing her eyes at him she shoved away from the desk heading back for the door. There was no way she was going to confide in him her irritations with other people if he couldn't even acknowledge her presence without some sort of violent outburst.

"I have to get back to make dinner. I really like the classes and the students. Thanks for letting me do this," she said waving back at him.

"And you get mad at me for avoiding questions…"

"We're just alike, aren't we?"

"No, we're not."

That calm undertone again. So calm it was almost eerie. She hated when he was clam…

"You keep saying that, but some days, I'm not so sure you're right," she sighed walking out the door, pushing it closed behind her with it's loud metallic groan.

There was a moment of complete silence before she could hear the typing resume, somehow the keystrokes were more violent than they had been when she first arrived.


	3. Like Father, Like Daughter

Silence was usually the hardest part. Early in the morning when there was no one in the Academy yet save a few teachers. She sat alone in the classroom going over the papers she hadn't finished sorting the day before. Kaine had insisted on coming with her at least until the class started, but he sat on the step leading up to the desk snoring loudly. She didn't notice the student enter at first, steps so quiet they didn't even echo off the floor. It wasn't until she heard him arguing with himself that she even looked up.

"Hey, Ragnarok, is it just me, or did Professor Stein turn into a girl?" he muttered, presumably talking to himself.

His strange looks were by far worrisome. Pinkish lavender hair, short in most places except where a few longer stands hung down here and there, dark eyes almost dark plum or maybe even black. Even from where he was sitting, he looked like he was wearing a black dress? Now she was interested to know if he really was a he, or maybe a very feminine boy?

"How the hell am I suppose to know, idiot! Go ask him if he turned into a girl!" a loud obnoxious voice rang out, a small black being suddenly protruding from the boy's back, white gloved hands slamming into his skull. Again she found herself a little more than confused.

"Ask him? But that would mean I have to talk to him, I don't think I can handle that. I couldn't talk to him before, but now if he's a girl I really cant handle it!" the boy sobbed, trying to shield himself from the black beings blows.

"Then shut up about it! Who cares if the creepy Professor turned himself into a girl?" the black thing shouted, still pummeling the boys skull.

"Stop it, stop hitting me! Ow, that really hurts," the boy squealed fighting to get away, but the black being was connected. "I said stop hitting me Ragnarok!"

The boy swung upward, colliding with the creatures head, it's huge white eyes swirling for a moment before it settled down. Apparently the hit had done the trick, it wasn't interested in fighting anymore.

"Hey lady! Are you Professor Stein?" it shouted all of a sudden causing her to flinch slightly, even Kaine jerked awake.

"Excuse me?" she mumbled, wondering if what she was seeing was actually real.

"Did you turn yourself into a girl?"

"What? No, I was born a girl…"

"Are you sure? Because you looked like a guy to me before today…"

"You must be thinking of my-Professor Stein, he's not here yet."

Ragnarok tilted its head, as if she had something difficult to understand.

"So you're not Professor Stein?" the pink haired boy asked slowly sliding out from his desk to approach her.

"No. I'm his Assistant, my name is Milla. What's yours?" she said with a smile, hoping to not let him see her reluctance. She would have been lying if she said he didn't wig her out a little bit.

"My name is Crona, and this is Ragnarok, my Weapon," the boy sighed refusing to make eye contact with her. She began to wonder if maybe he was autistic. Not once had he looked at her directly.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Crona. And you too…Ragnarok. You weren't in class yesterday?"

"No I had a remedial lesson I had to do. We keep failing in class so Lord Death sends us on missions to help us learn how to work together better…"

"I see and how is that working out for you?"

"Not too good, I suppose."

"I still think you turned yourself into a girl…" Ragnarok snorted, crossing it's little arms as if to look tough.

"I can assure you, I didn't turn myself into anything. You'll see once the Professor arrives. And I'm sure you'll get the hang of it Crona, you just have to work harder, right?" she chuckled, finding the way they interacted amusing.

"I don't see how anyone could work with something like that clinging to your back. How the hell are you doing that anyway?" Kaine asked, now fully awake and intrigued by the sight before him.

"Ragnarok is a demon sword that was melted down and placed inside of Crona's body at a young age. They're stuck together forever," Maka called, strolling into the classroom, Soul following behind still looking half asleep.

"Good morning, Maka," Milla sighed, trying not to be irritated by her uptight attitude this early in the morning.

"Good morning. How did your mission go, Crona?"

"Well, we didn't fight with each other too much so I suppose it went better than usual," he sighed.

"That is better than usual. I'm proud of you Crona."

"Who's this?"

Soul's sleepy voice pulled her away from watching Maka and Crona interacting, he was glancing at Kaine with half closed eyes as if he were trying to decided if he'd seen him somewhere before.

"Oh, this is Kaine. Kaine, this is Soul, one of the Weapon students. Maka's scythe," Milla said introducing the two.

"So is he your partner Milla? Wait, you never said whether you were a Weapon or a Meister, did you?"

"Milla is my Meister. I mean her old man is the greatest Meister to ever graduate the Academy after all. What else would she be?" Kaine chuckled sticking his hand out to shake Soul's.

"Sucking up to me now wont make up for what you said yesterday. Class is getting ready to start, Kaine. You'd better clear out before he shows up."

There was no mistaking the disappointment in Kaine's eyes as he released Soul's hand, stuffing his hands into his pockets as he moved toward the classroom door.

"Yeah I guess you're right. Should I even bother coming to pick you up afterward?" he asked not even looking back at her.

"You know it would be better for you if you didn't…"

He shook his head once, slouching as he walked out of the classroom. She knew it was maybe a little harsh, but he would be better off the less he had to interact with Stein. She would have to make it up to him with a special dinner or something later, right now she had work to do.

* * *

"And that is why it is very important for everyone of you to work on raising your resonance rates. The faster you can achieve soul resonance with your partner, the faster you will be able to react in high danger situations. I expect to see improvements in everyone's resonance by the beginning of next week," Stein muttered, tapping the chalkboard with his piece of chalk. "Class is dismissed."

Half of the lesson she hadn't even been paying attention to. Actually she had been spaced out for almost the entire day. She wasn't sure exactly what it was that had her mind so fogged up, but she was pretty sure it was the look on Kaine's face when she had pretty much told him to buzz off. She sat sorting papers deftly, only mildly aware of when Stein asked her questions. All of her answers had been right of course, but it was like she was on auto-pilot and there was no way that he couldn't notice it.

"What's gotten into you today? You're here to be my Assistant, not act like a robot. I have a perfectly good computer at home," he sighed nudging the back of her chair with his foot. She'd actually managed to find her own computer chair for the classroom.

"I'm assisting, what did you do with all of your paperwork before I showed up? You might as well have loaded it into a shoebox then dropped it in a chipper for all the good it's doing you."

"I knew right where everything was. Just because it didn't look organized to everyone else doesn't mean that it didn't have a system."

"Alphabetical or chronological, how hard is it to use one or the other?"

He shrugged picking up a stack she had already sorted, shuffling through it to no doubt mess it up again. Once he sat it back down on the desk he reached up to turn the bolt in his head before he started off out of the room.

"Don't stay here all afternoon, you need to practice you're resonance rate just as much as the other students. Stop by the lab later with that hopeless partner of yours and we'll work on it," he called back to her before he vanished out the door.

That would certainly go over well. Kaine would love to take a trip to her fathers lab to "practice" resonance. When all he would be able to do was worry whether or not Stein was going to drug him and harvest his liver. With a heavy sigh she dove back into her paperwork refusing to let it get to her anymore, she had work to do.

"Hey, Milla is still in here," she heard Soul call from the hallway, her eyes looking up just in time to see him walk in followed by Maka and Crona.

"Is there something you guys need?" she asked blinking to adjust her eyes to looking at something other than the papers.

"Nah, we just came to see if you were still hanging around. We didn't see you leave with the Professor."

"I still have work to do."

She nodded at the stack of papers before her and in all honesty she didn't have much left, but with her brain halfway shut down she was having trouble focusing. What it boiled down to was she was just bored.

"You want some help? I mean you just have to put them all in order right?" Maka asked reaching her hand out to Milla.

It was surprising that Maka of all people wanted to offer her help. Then again she was a teachers pet. But she didn't see what helping her would earn her as far as extra credit.

"Why would you all want to spend your afternoon helping me?" she asked, tilting her head to the side.

"Why? Silly, you're our friend aren't you? We help our friends, right Crona?" she giggled, smiling down at her.

"Well, I don't know that I'll be much help, but I can try…" Crona sighed hugging himself as he often did.

"Four pairs of hands and eyes is better than one, right? We'll be done in no time!" Soul insisted scooping up a stack of old tests.

Soul had a point. With the four of them there sorting and laughing over the strange things that happened in their class, the mess of papers seemed to dissolve. She hadn't thought that she would actually enjoy spending any kind of time with Maka, but with Soul and Crona there to break up her snobby attitude she wasn't actually _that_ bad.

"All right, now that we have all that junk taken care of, you guys had better get to work on your resonance rates. I have to go to the lab with Kaine anyway, he's probably expecting me by now," Milla cheered patting Soul and Crona on the shoulder.

"He's going to work with you personally? Lucky…" Maka sighed.

"Lucky? I don't see how being alone with the Professor is a _lucky_ thing…"

Her head snapped around first, glaring at the boy who had just walked into the classroom. He wasn't anyone that she had seen in their classes, but then again she'd only been attending full classes for two days, it was quite possible that she had missed him. His hair was an unnatural navy blue color, the way that the light hit it told her that it was obviously fake, his dark eyes gave off a bad vibe. She knew before he even spoke again that she wasn't going to like this boy.

"Kyle, we all know that Professor Stein is the best teacher we could hope to have! Any Meister would give anything to learn the things he knows," Maka demanded crossing her arms over her chest.

The boy, Kyle, shuffled into the room dragging his feet with every step he took, smiling at her in a sickening way. It wasn't until he stopped right in front of her that she noticed they were the same height. For whatever reason, knowing that he was taller than Kaine only served to irritate her even more.

"So this is the daughter of Franken Stein, hm? If you weren't his, I'd mistake you for being attractive," he chuckled catching a wisp of her ponytail between his fingers.

"What does me being his have to do with me being attractive or not? Not that you need to bother answering that question because I really have no interest in what you have to say about me or my Papa," she shrugged tugging her hair back away from his grasp. "Let's get out of here."

They were halfway across the room when she heard him laugh. She knew that it would just be better to ignore his existence and keep walking, but something in her refused to let her take another step.

"Why are you laughing? What's so funny?" she asked, suddenly turning back to glare at the blue haired boy.

"Come on, Milla, he's not worth it," Maka pleaded tugging on her arm but she easily shrugged her off.

"Oh nothing. It's just I wonder how you can defend someone like him," Kyle chuckled leaning against the desk.

"Don't go down that road man, it's not cool to talk about someone's parent like that," Soul warned stepping up to her side along with Maka.

"You do it all the time to Maka's father. And it doesn't really matter what way anyone turns it, she's probably going to turn out to be a lunatic. Just like her bat shit crazy father…"

It was like something inside of her head just snapped. She tilted her head to the side, a smile breaking over her lips as she started to laugh. For a moment no one moved, they all stood there staring at her in complete confusion it wasn't until she started to advance on Kyle that anyone spoke, the words coming from her mouth barley felt like her own.

"You know, ever since I was born, I was never allowed to take part in my fathers little experiments. It was quite cruel really. All of those interesting things to cut open and explore. But still he kept me from them, afraid that I might turn out just like he did."

A cackle escaped her lips as she reached the edge of the desk, Kyle backing farther into the classroom as she pulled the top drawer open, producing a scalpel she had confiscated from her father the day before and hid it from him in his own desk. What better place to hide something than in plain sight?

"Still, I would hate to be the one to break it to him that it really didn't matter if he kept me away form dissections or not. When all you want to do is tear things apart you find one way or another to satisfy your curiosity. Sadly, once is never enough. Before you know it you're cutting open bigger and bigger things. Cataloging organs and taking notes. Filing data for later reference. It's an amazing feeling, blood slipping over your fingers as you dig into the anatomy of some poor helpless thing under the tip of your blade."

Her foot jerked forward without her, causing her to nearly stagger toward Kyle. He apparently noticed the sharp blade in her hand and stumbled back from her, bumping into the front row of benches. His eyes widened just as much as hers were as she jerked forward, one small step at a time, dragging her feet with every tile she gained.

"You'll never really know until you feel it for yourself. How _warm_ and _slick_ the insides of a _person_ can be. Blood has a metallic smell to it, like copper, you know? And such a pretty ruby red color. There's not a paint in the world that can color a wall as well as blood can… Would you care to see?"

Another jerky step toward him caused him to flinch closer toward the door. Soul, Maka and Crona were all watching her with strained expressions, she knew that they were trying to decide whether or not to try and stop her.

"Go ahead and make a run for the door, Kyle. If you make it to the door I'll let you leave without so much as a nick, but I warn you now, I _am_ my fathers daughter. Did you know he taught me how to attack directly with my soul wavelength at age five? Haha! He never even told me that he was proud of me… Not that it matters if he does or not, I was just a failed experiment after all. I wonder if you will be a failed experiment as well? Are your insides interesting, Kyle? I would love to see them scattered over the floor…"

"Crona! Go find Professor Stein!" Maka shouted, Crona stumbling out of the room, but she was hardly even aware of it.

The sight of Kyle before her, his legs trembling as she forced him closer against the bench, was amusing. Her free hand reached out toward him, her fingers twitching as she inched closer before they closed around his throat pushing him down onto the bench forcefully.

"If I hit you with my soul wavelength now, do you think that you would explode? Pretty red blood would cover everything…but then I wouldn't get to see your face when I cut into you. And that would just be a shame…"

As she inched the scalpel closer to his side he clamped his eyes shut, shaking his head furiously. She could feel his hands clawing at the glove that covered her arm, pulling at the fabric until it fell down loosely around her wrist revealing the long scars littering her arm.

"Where should we start Kyle? Should I take a look at your heart first? See what makes it beat? And then what will make it stop…"

She spun the blade around in her hand quickly, pressing the dull end against his black shirt sharply and he let out a loud scream. Maka and Soul both lurched forward as if they were going to try and pry her away from him but they didn't try to touch her. For a moment the only sound was Kyle's scream reverberating off of the high ceiling until the classroom door burst open, Crona and Stein spilling into the room, both of them out of breath.

"MILLA! Stop this!" Stein shouted closing the distance between them quickly, pulling both of her hands back away from Kyle gently.

The second Kyle was free from her grasp he tore out of the room, clutching at his side where she had jabbed him in an attempt to find the wound. For a long while she just stood there staring blankly up at Stein as if she was confused. Didn't he realize what had happened?

"What do you think you're doing?" he snapped, glaring down at her, his voice was actually trembling.

"But Papa, I didn't do anything," she insisted holding up her hand for him to see.

He blinked to focus on the blade that was suddenly shoved in his face when he realized he wasn't looking at the blade of the scalpel at all. Just the blunt end of the instrument.

"You were…just playing with him?" he asked.

"Of course. I would never really hurt someone like that. He just couldn't shut his mouth, I bet he wont dare saying it again…"

He sighed heavily dropping her hands, pushing his glasses back up his nose where they had slid down from running. She didn't think that they would actually take her seriously, but apparently things were worse than she imagined. Maka and Soul both stared at her completely petrified. It took her a moment to smile over at them, trying to apologize with her eyes, she didn't really have words to explain her actions other than she wanted to teach him a lesson.

"You're bleeding," Stein said plainly, his voice back to it's normal calm tone.

"What?"

Her eyes snapped down to her hand, she hadn't realized that when she jabbed Kyle with the blunt end of the scalpel that it had pushed the blade along her palm, slicing it open, she was bleeding freely onto the tile floor. Her eyes widened, each drop of blood that hit the floor making her head spin. She could feel the wave of nausea wash over her and instantly slumped back onto the step leading up to his desk, her eyes clamping shut as she tried to focus on staying conscious.

"Professor? What's wrong with her?" Maka asked, the concern in her voice was actually a little endearing.

"The sight of blood makes her lightheaded…" he sighed heavily, she could feel him prying the scalpel from her hand gently, removing the glove over her arm so that he could see her palm properly.

"You've got to be joking," Soul gasped, all of their voices seemed to be inching closer to her.

"It's true. I get all lightheaded and sometimes I feint. And I'm really a big klutz, so all these scars on my arms are from where I trip and fall," she raised her left hand in the air, showing off the arm Kyle had pulled her glove off of trying to free himself. "I think I'm going to be sick..."

"Not in here you aren't. It's not even that serious," Stein demanded, his hands delicately turning her cut palm this way and that. "It's already gone, you can open your eyes."

Slowly she peeled her eyes open, glancing at the fresh bandage he had wrapped around her palm, there wasn't even a spec of blood showing through, maybe it really wasn't as bad as all that. Maka, Soul and Crona were all gawking at her in disbelief.

"Your _daughter_…feints at the sight of blood?" Soul whispered, still in shock.

"I know. It's terrible. I'm such a disgrace…" she whined.

"You really need to refrain from doing that to students, Milla. Playing or not I don't think Lord Death will approve of it," Stein mumbled leaning down to wipe her blood off of the floor with his back to her.

"Yes Professor, I'm sorry. I just can't stand it when people say those sort of things about you…"

She watched as he stood up, glancing over at her out of the corner of his eye before he nodded and headed out of the room. She couldn't help but feel she had disappointed him again. The stinging in her hand was nothing compared to the shame she saw every time he looked at her.


	4. Abigale Wells

"Milla, what happened?"

Kaine was immediately concerned the second she walked in the front door, his eyes on her freshly bandaged hand. He didn't even notice as Maka and Soul filed in the door behind her, peeling their shoes off next to hers.

"Tripped. You remember Soul from this morning, and his Meister Maka?" she smiled sitting her bag down on the couch.

"Yeah, hey guys," he muttered still not even looking over at them. "What did you trip on? I mean the desk didn't cause that!"

"I tripped over my own feet. Does it really matter? Get changed, we're going out."

"Out where?"

"Professor Stein's lab. We're all going to work on our resonance rates together, Milla said it would be fine," Maka said with a smile.

"Whoa! We're going to your old man's lab? Why wasn't I warned?" Kaine hissed backing away from her as if she was going to drag him kicking and screaming.

"We found out at the end of class. It wasn't like I knew all along or something. Just get ready, will you? Maka, Soul, make yourselves at home," Milla laughed ducking into her room.

The fact that Kaine was not happy about the sudden plans for the afternoon was a little more than obvious. They all walked through the city chatting about the events of the day, skipping over her incident with Kyle while Kaine sulked along beside them, hands crammed in his pockets. The closer they got to the lab he started falling behind more and more, shifting his eyes to anything other than the looming stitched building before them.

"Kaine, really, you have to stop worrying so much. We need to work on our resonance rate just like everyone else…" Milla sighed, at this point she was actually dragging him along.

"Stop worrying? Do you listen to yourself when you speak? The man hates me!" he sobbed looking at Soul as if he expected him to help.

"Did you expect him to be nice to the guy who's living with his only daughter, man? Maka's old man is the same way…" Soul laughed.

"What do you mean?"

They all stopped just short of the front gate gawking back at Soul trying to understand what he'd just said. He stood there looking back at them like it was as plain as day.

"You got to be kidding me? Maka's old man hates me because I'm a boy who lives with his precious daughter. Did you all never think that maybe Stein is the same way? He doesn't like Kaine because he's living with Milla, that's all that there is to it. He's being an overbearing dad in his own way…" Soul sighed running his fingers through his hair uncomfortably.

"I somehow doubt that's what it is," Kaine mumbled, blushing slightly.

"Yeah, I don't think that Papa would be worried about something like that," Milla said crossing her arms over her stomach.

"Really? Have you _looked_ at yourself in the mirror?"

"Soul, really…" Maka snapped, glaring over at him.

"What? It's not like it's something you have to search for! It's out there for everyone to see and Stein has eye's you know? I know he doesn't really seem like the type, but I'm sure it bothers him that his little girl is growing up. I bet he worries in his own way, even if he isn't as up front about it as Death-Scythe is about it."

"Let's just go, all right? It really doesn't matter why he doesn't like Kaine…" Milla groaned dragging Kaine through the gate.

Stein was seated out in front of his lab, puffing on a cigarette waiting for her to arrive. For a moment he glanced between her and Kaine to Soul and Maka, she hadn't thought that maybe he didn't want anyone else at his lab, but if Soul and Maka were there she hoped he would be less inclined to pick on Kaine.

"Hello Professor. Milla said it would be all right if we tagged along, I hope you don't mind," Maka said bowing her head slightly to him.

"Of course not. As long as you're working on your resonance rates, it's not a problem. It might actually be good for you two to be here, you can show Milla the Witch Hunter," he said waving back at Maka with a small smile.

Milla's eyes snapped over to Maka and Soul, gawking at them.

"You can already do Witch Hunter?" she gasped.

"Well, yeah. I mean sometimes it doesn't quite work out…" Maka said blushing.

"You can do it in the first place! That's amazing."

"Can't you resonate with Kaine?"

She suddenly looked away, unable to look her in the eye. The only time she'd ever worked on resonance with Kaine was with Stein present and it never ended well. Kaine was always so nervous something always ended up going wrong. She didn't blame Kaine in the slightest, she was always so worried about not being able to impress her father that she probably wasn't helping the situation at all.

"Not yet," she admitted.

"Well that just means that we all have a lot of hard work to do, right?" Maka cheered extending her hand to Soul.

"Right!"

She watched closely as Soul turned into his Scythe form, the red and black blade much longer than Maka herself. They were impressive together to say the least, the way she spun him around effortlessly as if he were nothing more than a feather to her. A deadly feather, but a feather non the less.

"All right then Maka, show us the Witch Hunter," Stein sighed standing up from his chair to join them in the barren yard.

"Right Professor. Let's go, Soul Resonance!" Maka called out.

The actual act of resonating a Meister's soul with that of it's Weapon could prove to be difficult for most partners to achieve. Watching Maka and Soul resonate the Witch Hunter was daunting. Milla wasn't sure if she even knew how to obtain the level of connection they had and she had been with Kaine since a very young age. She had hand picked him…moved to his home to study with him. But Maka and Soul made it look so effortless. The pace was slower than she knew it should be, but the fact that the blade was able to morph, turning a prismatic blue, extending well over the length it had been was impressive.

"Now, come at me…"

Her heat made a funny lurch when Stein spoke, the size of the Witch Hunter was scary. She wasn't sure if she would be able to dodge something like that if it were aimed at her and the fact that it was aimed at her father made her chest tight. She knew he would avoid it, he was the best there was, but still the images her mind created worried her. Maka started off at a run toward Stein, the blade of the Witch Hunter looming behind her as she tried to gain momentum. She let out a fierce cry, swinging the blade over her head at Stein and Milla physically jerked. Kaine's hand rested on her shoulder and even though he had to stretch to reach her, it was comforting.

"He'll be all right," he whispered watching the scene with tight eyes as if he weren't so sure himself.

The blade sailed toward Stein and he didn't even flinch. She refused to close her eyes, forcing herself to watch. He wanted her to see this, the bond between Meister and Weapon at its strongest. To her surprise Stein caught the blade of the Witch Hunter between his hands, holding little Maka at bay. Even so, she could see the force he had to put behind his block to keep from loosing his balance. If it were anyone other than Stein, they would have taken a fatal blow. But the blade shattered between his hands dissolving back into Soul's normal weapon form, Maka panting heavily as she used him for support.

"Good. Now if you can just raise the rate in which you achieve that resonance and maintain it. The Witch Hunter should be second nature to you Maka, but it's still impressive that you can use it to that extent at your young age," Stein said with a smile. "Milla, shall we try this?"

With his attention directed at her and Kaine she could feel her legs go numb. Trying to hide her trembling hands she reached out for Kaine.

"What kind of Weapon is he?" Soul asked after returning to his normal form.

"Kaine is a pike. Sort of a mix between a spear and an axe," Stein muttered pulling off his glasses.

"This should be interesting…"

"Indeed."

She had always thought Kaine was an amazing weapon. When she first found him Stein was disappointed that it meant she was going to have to move away to be with her Weapon, but she was entranced by him the first time she saw a photo of him. The happy smiling boy with his mother, it made her heart ache for the mother she never got to know. She chose him before she even knew him and it was amazing that they got along so well despite his fear of Stein. Kaine in his weapon form was taller than she was, taller than Stein. The end was tipped with a sharp blade that acted more like a counterbalance for the heavy axe attached to the top of the pike. The axe itself was sharp, several jagged points poking out at strange angles, crimson inlay on the pole with the black blades.

"We can do this all right? We can we just have to focus," Milla demanded gripping Kaine tightly.

"We haven't been able to do it before now and we don't know anything like the Witch Hunter…" Kaine sighed, his voice echoing from the weapon.

"That doesn't matter, I'm not a Scythe Meister and you're not a Scythe. We have to make our own path, we _can_ do this! Soul Resonance!"

* * *

"So, in the end, we still couldn't do it, hm?" Kaine wheezed flopping down next to her on the step leading into the lab.

"Nope…"

The resonance had started out well enough. It seemed like they might actually get somewhere for once. And then Milla saw the way Stein was watching her. It wasn't the usual look her gave her when he was trying to understand whatever idiotic thing she was doing at the time. He was watching her with hopeful eyes. He wanted to see her succeed for more than just an experiment. It was suddenly like her soul wavelength just seized up, unable to move at all. Kaine had tried with everything he had to reach her, but she just stood there like a statue.

"What does everyone looked so bummed about? Stein trying to take someone's organs again?" Spirit mumbled causing her eyes to snap up to the red headed Death-Scythe.

"Milla wasn't able to get her soul resonance to work…" Maka sighed hanging her head as if it somehow meant she failed.

"I'm a monumental failure. What can I say?" Milla chuckled, smiling brightly to try and hide that fact that she really wanted to cry.

Her father just stood there leaning against the building, waiting for her to either recover or give up. She just didn't know how to tell him she didn't have the will to try again, not with him looking at her like that.

"Well I brought something that might cheer you up, little Stein…" Spirit laughed holding out a thin book to her.

"Hm? What's this, Spirit?" she mumbled pulling the book away from him gently.

The second she peeled the cover open, she couldn't help but tilt her head. She didn't understand exactly what she was looking at. It just seemed to be a photo album of Spirit and Stein while there were in school at the DWMA. Every now and again a strand of golden hair blurred the picture, as if someone were diving away from the camera. Turning the page she was greeted with a picture of Stein glancing away from the camera with a scowl on his face, Spirit who was taller at the time trying to get him to look at the camera and then a beautiful blond girl smiling at the camera brightly. Her dark olive eyes and wildly wavy blond hair made her look erratic.

"Is this…is this my Mama?" she mumbled gawking down at the bubbly looking girl.

Everyone crowded around her suddenly, except for Stein who didn't move an inch, all of them peering over her shoulder to see the photos. Each picture they had of her became more and more pronounced, the girl went from shy smiles to happy laughter and in a few they even managed to get Stein to look at the camera. But he still remained scowling. Almost as if he really didn't like the fact that someone was taking his picture.

"Sure is. Beauty isn't she? Abigail Wells, that was your Mama's name. It took me a long time of searching, but that's every photo I could find with her in it," Spirit cheered giving her a thumbs up.

"She really was pretty Milla," Maka sighed next to her.

"I still cant believe a woman let Stein get that close to her!" Soul gasped, Kaine nodding his head in agreement.

"Silly, it wasn't like that at all. My Mama never had me…she died before I was ever born."

No one spoke a single word after her statement, watching her carefully as she ran her fingers over the pages gently. Stein had told her everything about her mother, her name and what she looked like, but this was the first time she'd ever seen a photograph of her. She was much more beautiful than she could have ever imagined. Even though she always thought she looked exactly like her father, there was definitely some of her mother in there too. She could hear Stein walking away, the metal door of the lab groaning closed, knowing she was about to tell a story he didn't want to hear.

"Mama had a rare disease. Well, really is was rare for women to have it. She had hemophilia. It's an x chromosome disorder that usually only manifests in men because they have two x chromosomes compared to a woman's one. There was an accident one day, on a mission and Mama was hurt really badly. Her Weapon partner even ended up dying shortly after she did. But there was nothing they could do to help her… Hemophiliac's have trouble with the clotting of their blood, so even small nicks can be troublesome to them. Mama was hurt so badly, there was no way for them to stop the bleeding. Papa and Spirit were her friends, they were there with her in the end and she asked for a child. That was the only thing she had wanted before she died… So Papa made me. When he said that I was a failed gene mapping experiment, he means that he failed to phase his own genes out. He didn't want any part of him to be carried on in her child, but he needed male DNA…" she rambled quietly turning the pages of the photo album slowly until she reached the blank page in the back of the book before closing it.

"He didn't want you to turn out like he did. You know he's afraid you'll be effected by the same madness that plagues him," Spirit sighed.

"I know," she said hugging the book to her chest. "I know he's scared. But I'm as sane as humanly possible. He should have realized that by now."

"I'm sure he does. Maybe he's just afraid to let you go…"

Spirit reached out patting her head gently before he moved past them into the lab. Stein was seated at his computer desk, his fingers typing away rhythmically at the keys, smoke from his cigarette billowing up over his head. For a moment Spirit just stood there glancing across the darkened room as he closed the door. Normally he wouldn't leave himself alone with Stein in this kind of situation, but there really wasn't anyway around it. He couldn't say what he needed to hear in front of Milla and the others.

"You know, just because you ignore her, it's not going to keep her sane Stein. She's a child crying out for a parents affections," Spirit mumbled inching closer to his desk warily.

"I'm not a parent like you, Spirit. You talked me into doing it in the first place. Why don't you take responsibility? I would have used your DNA if I didn't think the child would have come out with some kind of mental deficiency," Stein demanded, his voice as clam and indifferent as usual.

"I know I may have pressed the matter on you more than I should have, but it was our friends dying wish Stein. How could you ignore that? You had the means to give her what she wanted and even though you didn't want to have a child, you cant say that you're not proud of that girl in some way."

Stein's hands stopped on the keyboard, turning to glance at his former Weapon blankly.

"You think that I wish I hadn't created her?" he asked, tilting his head.

That look that he was giving him reminded Spirit so much of Milla it was a little amusing.

"No, I didn't mean for it to sound that way. If you didn't want her, you would have trashed the entire experiment. But you couldn't. Even though she turned out so much like you instead of Abby, you kept her."

"It would have been murder at that point Spirit."

"True. But you could have given her away to a family that couldn't have children of their own. But you kept her, saying that you were afraid she would be afflicted by the madness too. But I think you really wanted to keep her…because you loved her."

Stein sat there staring at him blankly, refusing to show any kind of emotion about the subject. Spirit knew that they weren't going to get any further on the matter. He shrugged lightly, shoving his hands in his pockets as he turned back to the doors.

"But then again, I'm probably wrong. Creating life was probably a grand experiment. Just remember, you decided to keep her, so you need to step up and treat her like the great daughter she is," he chuckled pulling the door open, leaving the mad scientist alone in his lab once more.

As soon as the door was closed Stein turned back to his computer and resumed his typing. Listening to the idol chatter that whispered through the doors about Abigail. When the noise finally died down, Spirit, Soul and Maka all gradually leaving the laboratory, Stein stopped typing. Trying to hear Milla and Kaine speaking, but there was nothing. Silence. The two of them were sitting right outside the doors where he had left them and they weren't moving. After a moment he reached over to the filing cabinet under his desk, pulling out a heavy binder. The cover was labeled in thick marker - Patient File : Milla S.

Flipping open the page he was greeted with a photo of himself and Abigail, two days before her accident. It was the only photo of the two of them alone and she had actually managed to make him smile slightly, tripping over her own feet as she snapped the picture. It was blurry, but it was still there. Her and him laughing. Turning the page it started with photo's of Milla. He had taken one every year since her birth, along with the photos she had sent him from the school in Kaine's home town. A chronologically arranged album of her entire life to date. He was proud of his daughter, even if she didn't quite know it yet.

* * *

Outside, Kaine and Milla stood staring up at the bleeding moon, they were going to give it one more shot. They could resonate their souls, they just had to believe. Milla gripped him tightly, smiling, knowing, trusting they were ready for this.

"Let's go, Soul Resonance!"


End file.
